A picture of a Hindu deity with a cow as a companion is displayed at a cow shelter in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/BloombergEconomics
Modi’s Drive to Protect India’s Sacred Cows Divides Voters
Vigilantes have killed 44 people, while authorities are cracking down on cattle trading and illegal slaughterhouses.
Officer Javed Khan was trying to feed a cow in the backyard of his police station.
His men had picked up the animal from the road after the Uttar Pradesh government in northern India asked police to set an example by adopting stray cattle—the latest twist in India’s age-old tension between Hindus, who worship cows, and Muslims, who eat beef. Reports of clashes between the two groups have surged after a clampdown on cattle trading and illegal abattoirs prompted dairy farmers to abandon unwanted livestock on the streets.